What happened to Lotus of South Bay?

They probably never sold anything. They were way over market on everything.

 

Actually SB Lotus was doing pretty good from what I heard selling 10-15 cars a month. But someone else opened a dealership i(franchise) in Beverly Hills and that upset the owner to no end. So fearing that the new dealership would cannabalise his sales he gave back his franchise license and reopened as SB BMW. That is just what I heard though so grain of salt...and all that.

Don

 

You might recall that location was once the old South Bay BMW dealership. After they opened their gigantic new spot on Hawthorne Blvd. in Torrance, the Lotus dealership opened up shop on part of that old spot. I remember a salesman there explaining a while back that the Lotus shop was still owned and operated under South Bay BMW. Apparently, for whatever reason, they have once again badged that location under So Bay BMW for their pre-owned inventory. Anyway, that's my impression of what's going on there...not sure of the full story.

I've still seen exotics in there, but not sure if they'll continue with that stuff.

 

Back in 2005, when I was more in-tune with the Lotus happenings, I understood that Lotus was looking for a LA location since Symbolic's dealership up in LA closed its doors. Failing to negotiate with Galpin Motors (after Galpin cleared and renovated space in their dealership), they gave the franchise to South Bay BMW as an "exclusive." What I'm guessing is that somebody must have opened a location that Lotus though was favorable for them and granted that LA dealer a franchise which goes against what was promised for South Bay BMW.

 

Makes sense.. I drive by everyday and couldn't figure out why they didn't actually have any BMW's on the lot.